• Home
  • Cricket News
  • England In South Africa Cricket Dodges South Africas Political Bullet

England in South Africa: Cricket dodges South Africa's political bullet

England Cricket posted a couple of reels on Instagram recently showcasing two of their most totemic white-ball dashers going through the paces in a net session. Ben Stokes picked the bones out of a length ball, his rapier-like willow brandishing down at fever pitch to send the cherry far and yonder into mid-wicket's oblivion. Kaboom!

The next visual treat was an on-driving master-class from Jonny Bairstow. The feet aligned in perfect symphony, the head frame rock-solid, those pliant wrists torturing a half-volley clean as a whistle to scorch the grass on fire. A stroke of genius you'd watch on loop. Such displays of pure hostility act as a soothing balm in today's day and age. Why? For, they remove chaos and instil order. The sense that everything is right with the world. Mankind yearns for that feeling. But more so, Cricket South Africa. Because there is precious little right with theirs at the moment. 

Keeping the novel coronavirus at bay is prime on agenda but Cricket South Africa still have bigger fishes to fry. Perennial tensions over racial injustice exploded in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement gathering steam, which happened after George Floyd was choked to death by police in Minneapolis on May 25. Two days later CSA fired chief executive Thabang Moroe on charges of serious misconduct. All hell broke loose henceforth. The entire board resigned, the members' council - that regards itself as CSA's highest authority - was compelled into acknowledging an interim board proposed by the government, and the dark clouds of state monopoly and suspension by the ICC loom large over the rainbow nation's immediate cricketing future. 


The green shoots, if any, for the perplexed layman of South Africa had to bloom in the resurgence of cricketing action. The 3TC and first-class affairs tickled the taste buds but the England series was a desperately needed cuisine to satisfy the eight-month-long craving for international flavour. The World Cup champions remain on course to play three matches in each of the coloured-clothing formats at Newlands and in Paarl rolling from November 27. Given the prevailing political turmoil makes peace with itself, at least for the time being. 

Enough of administrative cribbing, let's now get down to the brass tacks. Joe Root has not sported the blazing red for England since May 2019 and even his polished stint for Yorkshire in the T20 Blast towards the fag end of the home summer met with a blind eye from the selection panel. The three lions' crown jewel has been yet again overlooked for the slam-bang version of their Protea assignment. Joe Denly's back injury saw him miss the boat while Tom Banton has been chosen only as a reserve for this tour. An absolute logic-defier since he holds a contract with Brisbane Heat in the forthcoming Big Bash League. Go kick your heels, young boy. 

Reece Topley cracked the nod at the expense of David Willey, who's fallen prey to a spinal twitch after bearing the brunt of Covid-19. South Africa has been a happy hunting ground for Topley, who snared 10 wickets in five ODIs during the 2016 trip to the isle. Saqib Mahmood, an expected cushion to England's fast-bowling depot, was released to ply his trade for Hobart Hurricanes at BBL. The one-day squad is jam-packed to full strength but Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran leaving before the T20Is will rob the silver screen off a tad bit of its glamour quotient.

Their batting arsenal is glistening with swashbucklers locked and loaded to cudgel feeble oppositions to the knacker's yard. Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Bairstow, Eoin Morgan, Stokes, Sam Billings. Last but not the least, Dawid Malan. Ah, you'll be spoilt for choices. That Malan's slot in the eleven hangs in jeopardy despite an otherworldly average of 48.71 and a strike rate of 146.66 in T20Is is an emphatic testimonial to England's potency with the bat. 


The hosts have handed out pink slips to Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir and Jannemann Malan despite being available and in fine fettle from a fitness point of view. The right-hander's exclusion left many with a puckered brow considering he crackled an unbeaten century to drive South Africa home in a tense run-chase against Australia. Christmas arrived early for Glenton Stuurman who received his maiden national call-up, a no-brainer for the 35 wickets under his belt with just 10 franchise games to his name. Talking about seamers, Junior Dala has put behind the ordeals of rehabilitation and will fit the missing piece to South Africa's bowling jigsaw alongside Kagiso Rabada, who'll embrace the green jersey after a forced breather in the ODI series against Australia and the aborted rubbers versus India, both in March, with a groin niggle. 

Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Rabada and Anrich Nortje hogged the limelight in the IPL, finishing among the top 10 run-scorers or wicket-takers at the tournament - and make for super exciting packages. Rabada has re-channelised the beast within himself following the World Cup fiasco and Nortje unleashed missiles clocking 155 and 156 kilometres an hour last month, the fastest deliveries in IPL history.

Head coach Mark Boucher expressed that the team would fly its flag at half-mast and may wear black armbands in line with President Cyril Ramaphosa's edict to stand in solidarity with victims of the pandemic, systemic racial oppression and gender-based violence, which is widespread in the country. Cricket returns to the controversial cauldron of South Africa, amid chaos but with a cause. 

Powered by Froala Editor

Powered by Froala Editor

Discover more
Top Stories
news

Glenn Maxwell brush past Sehwag’s ‘10 Crore’s Cheerleader' comment

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has brushed aside former Indian cricketer Virender Shewag’s unruly comment calling him a ’10 Crore’s Cheerleader’ who had come to the Indian Premier League on ‘paid vacation’. Maxwell said that he is aware of Sehwag’s dislike of him. "It's ok. Viru is pretty outspoken with his dislike of me, and that's fine. He's allowed to say whatever he likes,” The West Australian quoted the 32-year-old as saying. He further made downweighed the Multan’s Sultan’s comments saying he is in the media for making such comments only. "He's in the media for such statements, so that's fine. I deal with that and move on, and take it with a grain of salt with Sehwag.” Maxwell didn’t actually have a great IPL as he was only able to make 113 runs in 11 innings and was unable to hit even a single six this entire season. The Victorian played under KL Rahul’s captaincy and rates him very highly. Talking to cricket.com.au, he praised Rahul saying that he was 'gun’ during the IPL. He's a great performer … got a great temperament, great head on his shoulders, and is extremely calm in pressure situations,” Maxwell said. Since it’s hard to get Rahul out otherwise, Maxwell said that he and his team would like to get him run out. "We had a team meeting the other day and they came to me and asked how I thought we should get him out, and one of the things I said was to try and run him out. So I think that's what we're going to try and do,” he said.

news

Love to play more prominent role in Pak cricket: Afridi hints at PCB entry

Veteran cricketer and probably the greatest Pakistan all-rounder in terms of numbers, Shahid Afridi has said that he would like to play a prominent role in Pakistan cricket’s rise in the near future. "I haven't thought too much about it (joining PCB) right now, but yes, why not?" he said when asked of venturing into administrative positions in near future. "Someday, I would like to play a more prominent role in Pakistan cricket and give something back to the game. I would do anything to see Pakistan cricket at the top of world cricket in all formats," he added. Talking about the recent captaincy change in the Pakistan Test outfit, the 40-year-old said that Azhar Ali (the outgoing captain) fell out of favour from the management due to consecutive series losses. "I don't want to be too harsh on Azhar but despite his hundred against Sri Lanka and win against both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the series loss to Australia and finally the loss to England perhaps didn't go down too well with the management," he said. The man who has represented Pakistan in a record 524 international games in his 18-year-old international career feels that Babar Azam, the 25-year-old batting Talisman must be given due chances to prove himself as a captain. "Babar has a good T20 captaincy record too, so let us give him a chance and see if he is capable of handling the pressure of captaining Pakistan," said Afridi. Even after scoring more than 11,196 runs and taking 541 wickets in international career and having played for more than 25 domestic teams in T20 cricket, the original ‘Lala’ is still going strong and would be plying his trade for Galle Gladiators in the upcoming Lankan Premier League starting 26 November in Hambantota. When asked about the secret of his energy, Afridi replied, "It feels good to be loved. Inshallah! I am really fortunate that people have never stopped showing their love to me, no matter whether I have performed or not.”

news

RSA vs ENG: Chris Jordan feels taking the Knee is personal choice

The watershed moment of the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) in cricket came when the English and West Indian cricketers took the knee in support of the movement in late July. But the matter has been raised once again as the South African coach Mark Boucher refused the proposal of taking the knee in the upcoming series against England. Reacting to it, Chris Jordan, the English all-rounder of Bajan origin said that the decision and the situation to form that decision depends upon the individual and he too is of the opinion that real change would come from the acceptance of reality, long conversations, and change within. “The situation is very individual; a lot of the honest work going on around the matter will be done in private. The real change will come through conversations one-on-one with people. If that is what they (South Africa) as an organization believe in then I don’t think it should be judged from any other point of view than it is a personal decision. We can move on.” Although the England team stopped the practice of taking the knee since the Australian series, Jordan, 32, still believes that taking the knee was beneficial for the spread of the movement through visual media. “One hundred percent yes,” he said on whether taking the knee useful. “But I am quite open-minded around the topic in terms of the different types of work that can be done. Taking the knee is something very visual that people see especially when they turn on sport,” he added. Boucher, the South African coach had earlier said that they might wear a black armband, but that would for a large range of issues including covid-19, gender sensitivity, and racial discrimination as well, but not particularly for BLM. “It's not something that we have to continue to show. It's something that you have to live. That is exactly what we are trying to doing our dressing room at the moment with a big squad. If guys who brought it up are happy with it, that's great, but if they feel we have to do more, that will be a chat and that they are open to express their opinions,” he said about the BLM. England are in South Africa to play two limited over series (T20Is and ODIs) of three-match each, starting with the first T20I in Newlands, Capetown on 27th November.

news

World Number -1 doesn’t guarantee a place in England Squad: Dawid Malan

The number one ranked T20I player, England’s Dawid Malan feels that the ranking is of no importance when you are competing for a place in a team like England, especially at the top of the order. "It is not something I am really looking at right now. It doesn't guarantee runs; it doesn't guarantee you a spot in the team. It's something that, the day I retire, I will look back on it with fond memories,” Malan told reporters in a Press Conference via a zoom meeting from Newlands, Capetown. The South Africa-raised batsman though is aware of the fact that the higher one’s rankings are, the more they are looked to and the more pressure is on them. “That's something I am trying to not let affect me, by not worrying where I am in terms of No. 1, or 20, or 100 in the world." The 33-year-old, who was selected into the national team as early as 2016 but couldn’t really get a permanent place, will be going into the series with 682 runs under his name at an average of 48.71, including seven fifties and a hundred, as well as a strike rate of 146.66. Yet he is unsure of whether he will make the cut or not. "I can't control selection. All I can do is put in the work in the nets and if I get the opportunity to play, keep scoring as many runs as I can to put pressure on the guys that have the spots.” Saying that he would ‘like to start in the playing XI’ the former Middlesex man asserts that he has ‘no idea’ on whether he will or not. “That's a question for the selectors, the coaches, and Eoin Morgan,” he said. Malan has been part of the last seven T20Is, but that has only happened due to the absence of established names like Jason Roy and Ben Stokes. Now as they are back, it would become difficult for him to get a place in the team and he is well aware of that. "I don't think it's ever just given on a plate. If you look at the limited opportunities I've had since I was in the first Twenty20 squad in 2016, I've only played 16 games. You obviously look back and think you probably didn't get as much of a run, but that's understandable because of the quality of players England have had - they won a World Cup and been absolutely fantastic,” he said.